moved:
That this House denounce the government's lack of action in the agricultural sector, which is currently facing the most significant changes in thirty years.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague from Hochelaga-Maisonneuve for seconding this motion. I am pleased to rise in this House for this motion:
That this House denounce the government's lack of action in the agricultural sector, which is currently facing the most significant changes in thirty years.
I also ask all members of all parties present here to do the same in condemning the government's inaction on agriculture. A self-respecting society is one that recognizes the importance of its agriculture. A country must first of all ensure that its citizens have good food, hence the importance of stimulating this crucial sector of our economy. Subject to the whims of nature and buffeted by political decisions made here and elsewhere, agriculture requires heavy investment, diversified technical expertise and constant support from the government.
We cannot overemphasize that. Agriculture is a very important industry in Canada. Agri-food accounts for nearly 8 per cent of the gross domestic product and almost 2 million jobs, 15 per cent of all employment in Canada. It produces some $64 billion of goods a year. Food processing industries alone gener-
ate $38 billion, which is more than the automobile industry in Canada, which generates about $30 billion.
In fact, every dollar of agricultural production generates nearly $3 in economic benefits.
Agriculture is, therefore, extremely important to Canada and to Quebec. It plays a major role in our economy, serves as the basis of our society and is an important component of our national identity.
The 38,000 farms and 1,200 processing plants which make up the agri-food industry inject roughly $3 billion into the economy in the form of inputs, services and salaries. The industry generates approximately 400,000 jobs, or 11 per cent of the overall total, and accounts for $11 billion in shipments in the manufacturing sector in Quebec.
This is nearly three times the shipments of the pulp and paper sector. In fact, the agricultural and agri-food sector in Quebec is much larger than the province's pulp and paper industry or even the automobile industry.
Is it not time for our politicians and governments to pay more serious attention to agriculture and to stop neglecting this sector which provides a source of jobs and economic wealth?
What could account for this laxness and lack of action on the part of the government? Because there is no question that farmers are currently facing serious problems. With the upheavals resulting from the GATT and the NAFTA, the agricultural sector has undergone over the past few years some of the biggest changes in 30 years.
No one denies that the GATT and the NAFTA have changed the rules of the game in agriculture and it is hard to argue that in the case of these agreements, the federal government was truly successful in defending the interests of Canadian farmers.
The Canadian government lost out on GATT. First, because it failed to maintain support for article XI and was unable to cobble together a coalition of countries to defend its position and ensure that article XI would be maintained. Not only did the federal government fail to defend article XI of the GATT, which provides for a highly equitable system for farmers and consumers, it failed as well to gain a reasonable period of time for farmers affected by article XI to adapt to changes in these sectors.
The agri-food industry needs a reasonable period of time to make the transition to a competitive world. However, the government failed to win the industry enough time to make a smooth transition to the new system.
By signing the GATT Agreement, the federal government is subjecting the farmers of Quebec and Canada to time frames and terms of change imposed from the outside, by their very competitors.
In fact, the government's lack of action in the agricultural sector has been obvious since the GATT Agreement was signed, and in its trade negotiations with the United States in particular.
Not only did the federal government lose the battle for article XI at GATT and give the farmers very little time to adjust, but when it signed the GATT agreements on December 15 last, it did not make sure our many trade disputes with our main trading partner, the US, were settled.
Canada has since had to negotiate under pressure the settlement of a large number of trade disputes in the agricultural sector. Naturally, the United States has managed to drag Canada into global negotiations of all issues pertaining to agriculture instead of negotiating issues on the merits of each case.
In so doing, Canada had once again put itself in a position of incredible weakness. The federal government's strategy is one of damage control, a mainly defensive strategy. Our negotiators keep complaining that the US is acting in bad faith.
Canada's position of inaction and passivity is also exemplified by the fact it has accepted to negotiate a cap on Canadian durum wheat exports to the United States.
Given that Canada is doing nothing wrong under NAFTA, why allow to be penalized with respect to durum wheat exports when we know that the problems are on the American side?
There is a very long list of cases resulting from agreements signed at GATT and from NAFTA in various agricultural areas across the country which show how weak and soft this government's administration of agriculture is. But we will have the opportunity to discuss this in greater detail later on.
Canadian agriculture is faced with a serious problem, and the government has not done anything to deal with it: that is the considerable decline in the number of Canadian farms.
In Canada in the last 20 years the number of farms has fallen by nearly 25 per cent or almost one-fourth. We lost close to 100,000 farms. This means that 170,000 men and women who used to farm no longer earn a living as farmers. Even among those who still farm, almost 40 per cent, and in some sectors over 50 per cent, need a regular job elsewhere to survive as farmers.
In other words, in Canada not only is the farming population diminishing but it cannot even earn a decent living from farming alone. Rural people need our support; rural communities are in decline but everything we say on this subject seems to fall on deaf ears. So far the government has not come up with any proposal to improve rural communities and the fate of family farms.
Our farmers are among the most sophisticated in the world in several areas. Despite farmers' meagre income and reduced numbers, average productivity has grown by 2.4 per cent a year since 1981, which puts them in first place in Canada, far ahead
of the manufacturing sector with a growth rate of only 1 per cent. The excellent performance of farmers must be pointed out.
Canada comes first in the world for its capacity to feed its citizens at the lowest cost. How would you like to live in London, England, and spend 24 per cent of your salary on food in Tokyo and spend 33 per cent or a third of your income to feed your family, when Canadian consumers only spend 13 per cent of their income on premium quality and surprisingly varied food products? In spite of its problems and the lack of government support, the agricultural sector does its job well.
We are losing our farmers at an alarming rate. Our countryside is emptying and unemployment is going up. In addition, farmers are getting older: 42 per cent of them are over 55 and they are hard to replace because farming requires an enormous investment. Return on investment is low and working conditions are hard and totally different from those experienced by other workers in this country.
Who among us would be willing to start a business, invest half a million and, in return, have to work 80 hours a week, as is sometimes the case, without any vacation and for a salary which only represents 80 per cent of the average income of the rest of Canadians? The problem is not that there are no young people willing to take over, it is that the current policy is conducive to the dismantling of family farms.
Right now a person who wants to transfer his farm to his child must make great sacrifices. That person must be prepared to accept a substantial reduction of the value of his farm, often on the order of 50 per cent. In other words, it is the person who worked hard for over 40 years, reinvesting all his earnings in the farm to improve it and make it more efficient and profitable, and who always deprived himself of all those little treats which ordinary citizens take for granted-vacations, free evenings, sleeping in, etc.-who must, when the time to retire comes, sacrifice his pension fund to allow his offspring to take over the family operation. Farmers should not have to subsidize the new generation taking over. If we want an abundant and steady supply of food items, the government must take its responsibilities and initiate a farm transfer program. When will the government do that?
The loss of a farm is a tragic event which accelerates the deterioration of rural zones. We must put a stop to this terrible pattern. We must do something to keep rural populations from constantly decreasing. A healthy rural community is essential to the well-being of our society. Losing a farm often means losing a concession, a road, a post office, or a store. It can also lead to the deterioration of our rural communities and massive loss in investments, knowledge, money, training, expertise, research and subsidies. Our rural communities are full of dynamic and intelligent people who deserve better than what the government is proposing. The time has come for our distinguished colleagues opposite to introduce a rural policy that includes farm transfers.
Besides worrying about who will take over from them, farmers are concerned about their farm income which, as was mentioned earlier, does not get them very far. How many of us would be ready to spend our evenings, our weekends and our holidays holding down a second job, because our boss does not pay us a decent salary? In 1992-93, government subsidies accounted for 42 per cent of the total net income of farmers. This represents a significant decrease, since direct federal subsidies dropped by $113 million in 1993. Things are getting better, slowly but surely. However, these figures clearly indicate that the government contribution is crucial to the survival of our agricultural industry. Farmers need some support from the government.
The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food has a budget of some $3 billion, which represents less than 2 per cent of the federal government budget. This is not a huge amount of money when you consider the importance of this sector. Unfortunately, the money is not always well spent. Take for instance, agricultural research. In 1992-93, $300 million of taxpayers money were spent in this area, which provides 3,000 jobs. At first glance, this seems like a good investment. However, the money may not have been spent efficiently.
The Auditor General said: "The Department does not have in place a system to monitor the use of the technologies it has developed and transferred, with the exception of tracking the usage of new seed varieties. Without an effective monitoring system, it is not possible to determine how successful the Department has been in improving the adoption of technology by Canadian producers and processors". Since 1986, the department has known that until a responsibility framework has been defined and implemented by means of fiscal systems and performance evaluation mechanisms, it will be unable to highlight effectively the connection between resources and anticipated results on the one hand, and expenditures and actual results on the other hand.
Wasted money, ineffective research, much could be said on the gathering of market information and the gathering and compilation of statistical reports. It is incredible how Agriculture Canada fails to meet farmers' needs. Information does not always include conclusions, forecasts and data on market opportunities, and I quote from the Auditor General: "Dissemination of market information/intelligence is too slow and fails to meet the industry's needs for timeliness".
Although rather small, Agriculture Canada's budget is not managed effectively. The system has several deficiencies and it is about time we do something about it. In 1994, there will be a thorough review of the department's programs as a result of the signing of the GATT and NAFTA agreements.
In the past, these programs were not well controlled. Again I quote the Auditor General: "Some key aspects of the agreements, such as objectives, responsibilities, cost sharing and accountability, are not clearly defined".
So much money and effort has been spent to provide a service that does not meet the producers' needs. There is waste also in the duplication of programs, be it farm credit, food inspection, income support, market development or marketing. These duplications entail costs for the taxpayers, for such things as staff, services or office space. The respective tasks of the federal government and the provinces in trade exploration are poorly defined. As for the information gathered by various departments, when it is passed on to farmers, it is often too late for them to take advantage of it.
There has been progress, of course, but there is still much duplication between the federal and provincial levels, not only in programs but also in data, as we can see in this blatant example. According to Agriculture Canada data on hog exports, the figure for 1992 was 72,000 for Eastern Canada; but according to Statistics Canada, the figure for the same year and the same region was 125,000, that is twice as much. This is at the very least very bad data compiling, and it is very embarrassing to see such nonsense.
The Chair is indicating that I have one minute left, but a minute is not enough. It is unacceptable, all the more so since I was getting to the core of the subject.
Beyond these many difficulties for farmers, the waste and the many administrative duplications, there is something even worse in the agricultural sector. There is a very serious inequity problem in Canada between the west and Quebec, an inequity that shows up in many ways and that has been going on for a long time. There are numerous instances: milk, research, rural diversification, transportation and GATT. For example-and to sum up quickly since I do not have time to extrapolate-since 1980, the federal assistance share of the prairie provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, has grown from 42 per cent to 64 per cent of the federal budget, whereas financial assistance for Quebec has decreased from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.